Hunting for a Job by S.S. McClure

Part 1 Home Reading

TEXT 1

Art for Heart's Sake' R. Goldberg

"Here, take your juice," said Koppel, Mr. Ellsworth's servant and nurse.

"No," said Collis P. Ellsworth.

"But it's good for you, sir!"

"The doctor insists on it."

Koppel heard the front door bell and was glad to leave the room. He found Doctor Caswell in the hall downstairs.

"I can't do a thing with him," he told the doctor." He doesn't want to take his juice. I can't persuade him to take his medicine. He doesn't want me to read to him. He hates TV. He doesn't like anything!"

Doctor Caswell took the information with his usual professional calm. This was not an ordinary case. The old gentleman was in pretty good health for a man of seventy. But it was necessary to keep him from buying things. His financial transactions always ended in failure, which was bad for his health.

"How are you this morning? Feeling better?" asked the doctor. "I hear you haven't been obeying my orders."

The doctor drew up a chair and sat down close to the old man. He had to do his duty. "I'd like to make a suggestion," he said quietly. He didn't want to argue with the old man.

Old Ellsworth looked at him over his glasses. The way Doctor Caswell said it made him suspicious. "What is it, more medicine, more automobile rides to keep me away from the office?" the old man asked with suspicion. "Not at all," said the doctor. "I've been thinking of something different. As a matter of fact I'd like to suggest that you should take up art. I don't mean seriously of course," said the doctor, "just try. You'll like it."

Much to his surprise the old man agreed. He only asked who was going to teach him drawing. "I've thought of that too," said the doctor. "I know a student from an art school who can come round once a week. If you don't like it, after a little while you can throw him out." The person he had in mind and promised to bring over was a certain Frank Swain, eighteen years old and a capable student. Like most students he needed money. Doctor Caswell kept his promise.

He got in touch with Frank Swain and the lessons began. The old man liked it so much that when at the end of the first lesson Koppel came in and apologized to him for interrupting the lesson, as the old man needed a rest, Ellsworth looked disappointed.

When the art student came the following week, he saw a drawing on the table. It was a vase. But something was definitely wrong with it.

"Well, what do you think of it?" asked the old man stepping aside.

"I don't mean to hurt you, sir...", began Swain.

"I see," the old man interrupted, "the halves don't match. I can't say I am good at drawing. Listen, young man," he whispered. "I want to ask you something before Old Juice comes again. I don't want to speak in his presence."

"Yes, sir," said Swain with respect.

"I've been thinking... Could you come twice a week or perhaps three times?"

"Sure, Mr. Ellsworth," the student said respectfully.

"When shall I come?"

They arranged to meet on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

As the weeks went by, Swain's visits grew more frequent. The old man drank his juice obediently. Doctor Caswell hoped that business had been forgotten forever.

When spring came, Ellsworth painted a picture which he called "Trees Dressed in White." The picture was awful. The trees in it looked like salad thrown up against the wall. Then he announced that he was going to display it at the Summer Show at the Lathrop Gallery. Doctor Caswell and Swain didn't believe it. They thought the old man was joking.

The summer show at the Lathrop Gallery was the biggest exhibition of the year. All outstanding artists in the United States dreamt of winning a Lathrop prize.

To the astonishment of all "Trees Dressed in White" was accepted for the Show.

Young Swain went to the exhibition one afternoon and blushed when he saw "Trees Dressed in White".

Embarrassed of the strange picture, Swain rushed out. He was ashamed that a picture like that had been accepted for the show.

However Swain did not give up teaching the old man. Every time Koppel entered the room he found the old man painting something. Koppel even thought of hiding the brush from him. The old man seldom mentioned his picture and was usually cheerful.

Two days before the close of the exhibition Ellsworth received a letter. Koppel brought it when Swain and the doctor were in the room. "Read it to me," asked the old man putting aside the brush he was holding in his hand. "My eyes are tired from painting."The letter said: "It gives the Lathrop Gallery pleasure to announce that Collis P. Ellsworth has been awarded the First Landscape Prize of ten thousand dollars for his painting "Trees Dressed in White".

Swain became dumb with astonishment. Koppel dropped the glass with juice he was about to give Ellsworth. Doctor Caswell managed to keep calm. "Congratulations, Mr. Ellsworth," said the doctor. "Fine, fine... Frankly, I didn't expect that your picture would win the prize. Anyway I've proved to you that art is more satisfying than business."

"Art is nothing. I bought the Lathrop Gallery," said the old man highly pleased with the effect of his deception.

Answer the questions

Why did the doctor visit the old man?

Was the old man obedient?

What did the doctor offer his patient to prevent him from working hard?

What was the old man’s reaction to the doctor’s recommendation?

Did he manage to become a reputed painter?

Why did he fail to become an outstanding painter?

Were his paintings in great demand among art-lovers?

Paraphrase the following expressions

it was necessary to keep him from buying things

This was not an ordinary case-

I don't mean to hurt you

Swain did not give up teaching-

The picture was awful-

Swain's visits grew more frequent-

highly pleased with smth-

Give Russian equivalents

an ordinary case

financial transactions

end in failure

obey orders

take up art

make smb suspicious

As a matter of fact

To be awarded a prize

To become dumb with astonishment

Retell the text briefly. Give a character sketch of the main hero(es).

Find grammatical aspects and structures which you have studied during the semester

Discuss the following:

Do you know anything about the author of this story?

What is your attitude towards the main character of the story?

What are your emotions after reading the story? Did you like the plot?

TEXT 2

The Ant and the Grasshopper by W.S. Maugham

When I was a small boy I was made to learn by heart some fables of La Fontaine and the moral of each was carefully explained to me. Among them was "The Ant and the Grasshopper". In spite of the moral of this fable my sympathies were with the grasshopper and for some time I never saw an ant without putting my foot on it.

I couldn't help thinking of this fable when the other day I saw George Ramsay lunching in a restaurant. I never saw an expression of such deep gloom. He was staring into space. I was sorry for him: I suspected at once that his unfortunate brother had been causing trouble again.

I went up to him. "How are you?" I asked. "Is it Tom again?" He sighed. "Yes, it's Tom again."

I suppose every family has a black sheep. In this family it had been Tom. He had begun life decently enough: he went into business, married and had two children. The Ramsays were respectable people and everybody supposed that Tom would have a good career. But one day he announced that he didn't like work and that he wasn't suited for marriage. He wanted to enjoy himself.

He left his wife and his office. He spent two happy years in the various capitals of Europe. His relations were shocked and wondered what would happen when his money was spent. They soon found out: he borrowed some. He was so charming that nobody could refuse him. Very often he turned to George. Once or twice he gave Tom considerable sums so that he could make a fresh start. On these Tom bought a motor-car and some jewellery. But when George washed his hands of him, Tom began to blackmail him. It was not nice for a respectable lawyer to find his brother shaking cocktails behind the bar of his favourite restaurant or driving a taxi. So George paid again.

For twenty years Tom gambled, danced, ate in the most expensive restaurants and dressed beautifully. Though he was forty-six he looked not more than thirty-five. He had high spirits and incredible charm. Tom Ramsay knew everyone and everyone knew him. You couldn't help liking him.

Poor George, only a year older than his brother, looked sixty. He had never taken more than a fortnight's holiday in the year. He was in his office every morning at nine-thirty and never left it till six. He was honest and industrious. He had a good wife and four daughters to whom he was the best of fathers. His plan was to retire at fifty-five to a little house in the country. His life was blameless. He was glad that he was growing old because Tom was growing old, too. He used to say: "It was all well when Tom was young and good-looking. In four years he'll be fifty. He won't find life so easy then. I shall have thirty thousand pounds by the time I'm fifty. We shall see what is really best to work or to be idle."

Poor George! I sympathized with him. I wondered now what else Tom had done. George was very much upset. I was prepared for the worst. George could hardly speak. "A few weeks ago," he said, "Tom became engaged to a woman old enough to be his mother. And now she has died and left him everything she had: half a million pounds, a yacht, a house in London and a house in the country. It is not fair, I tell you, it isn't fair!"

I couldn't help it. I burst into laughter as I looked at George's face, I nearly fell on the floor. George never forgave me. But Tom often asks me to dinners in his charming house and if he sometimes borrows money from me, it is simply from force of habit.

Give English equivalents

Играть в казино

Это несправедливо

Ювелирные изделия

Причинять неприятности

Учить наизусть-

Женитьба была ему противопоказана

Его жизнь была безупречна

Я сочувствовал ему

Его родственники были шокированы

Невероятный шарм

Вести праздный образ жизни

Быть помолвленным с…

Рассмеяться

В силу привычки

Answer the questions

Did the author who had to learn a well-known fable by heart meet these images in real life?

What facts do you know about the author of this story?

Why did the author entitle the story “The Ant and the Grasshopper”?

What is the morale of this story?

What is your attitude towards the main character of the story?

What are your emotions after reading the story? Did you like the plot?

Do you always treat people in a fair way?

Can you guess of some examples of unfairness from your personal life?

3 "Every family has a black sheep" – what does it mean? There are a lot of idioms of the same kind. Give your examples of idioms and idiomatic expressions with their translation which could help you enrich your word stock.

Retell the text briefly. Give a character sketch of the main hero(es).

Give a character sketch of the main hero.

Find grammatical aspects and structures which you have studied during the semester

TEXT 3

Lost in the Post A. Philips

Ainsley, a post-office sorter, turned the envelope over and over in his hands. The letter was addressed to his wife and had an Australian stamp.

Ainsley knew that the sender was Dicky Soames, his wife's cousin. It was the second letter Ainsley received after Dicky's departure. The first letter had come six months before, he did not read it and threw it into the fire. No man ever had less reason for jealousy than Ainsley. His wife was frank as the day, a splendid housekeeper, a very good mother to their two children. He knew that Dicky Soames had been fond of Adela and the fact that Dicky Soames had years back gone away to join his and Adela's uncle made no difference to him. He was afraid that some day Dicky would return and take Adela from him.

Ainsley did not take the letter when he was at work as his fellow-workers could see him do it. So when the working hours were over he went out of the post-office together with his fellow workers, then he returned to take the letter addressed to his wife. As the door of the post-office was locked, he had to get in through a window. When he was getting out of the window the postmaster saw him. He got angry and dismissed Ainsley. So another man was hired and Ainsley became unemployed. Their life became hard; they had to borrow money from their friends.

Several months had passed. One afternoon when Ainsley came home he saw the familiar face of Dicky Soames. "So he had turned up," Ainsley thought to himself.

Dicky Soames said he was delighted to see Ainsley. "I have missed all of you so much," he added with a friendly smile.

Ainsley looked at his wife. "Uncle Tom has died," she explained "and Dicky has come into his money".

"Congratulation," said Ainsley, "you are lucky."

Adela turned to Dicky. "Tell Arthur the rest," she said quietly. "Well, you see," said Dicky, "Uncle Tom had something over sixty thousand and he wished Adela to have half. But he got angry with you because Adela never answered the two letters I wrote to her for him. Then he changed his will and left her money to hospitals. I asked him not to do it, but he wouldn't listen to me!" Ainsley turned pale. "So those two letters were worth reading after all," he thought to himself. For some time everybody kept silence. Then Dicky Soames broke the silence, "It's strange about those two letters. I've often wondered why you didn't answer them?" Adela got up, came up to her husband and said, taking him by the hand. "The letters were evidently lost." At that moment Ainsley realized that she knew everything.

Answer the questions to the text:

1) What was Ainsley?

2) Who was Dicky Soames?

3) What was the main reason for Ainsley's hiding Dicky's letters from Adela?

4) How did Ainsley behave when the second letter arrived?

5) What happened as a result of his behaviour?

6) Was Adela's uncle a rich person? Prove it.

7) Did he want Adela to come into his money and why did he have to change his will?

8) What did Ainsley mean saying, "Those two letters were worth reading"?

9) What proves that Ainsley's wife guessed everything?

10) Why do you think she said that the letters had been lost?

True or false

1) Ainsley read Dicky's letters before throwing them into the fire.

2) Adela often gave reason for jealousy.

3) It was a long time since Dicky Soames had gone away to Australia to join his uncle.

4) This fact made Ainsley forget his jealousy.

5) When the working hours were over Ainsley took the letter and left the post-office together with his fellow-workers.

6) The postmaster saw Ainsley getting out of the window and thinking that he had stolen something dismissed him.

7) Ainsley envied Dicky when he learned that the latter had come into his uncle's money.

8) When Ainsley understood that he was to blame for everything he told the truth.

"Adela was as frank as the day" – what does it mean? There are a lot of idioms of the same kind. Explain their meaning, try to give the corresponding Russian expressions and use these idioms in the sentences of your own.

as strong as an ox

as fresh as a cucumber

as strong as nails

as busy as a bee

as sure as fate (as certainly as)

as thick as thieves (very friendly)

as hungry as a hunter

as old as the sea

as slow as a snail

Give a character sketch of the main hero.

Discuss the following:

What is the main idea of the story?

What is your attitude towards the main character of the story?

What are your emotions after reading the story? Did you like the plot?

Retell the story in short.

Find grammatical phenomena and structures which you have studied during the semester.

TEXT 4

The Happy Man by W.S. Maugham

I was a young man and I lived in a modest apartment in London near Victoria Station. Late one afternoon, when I was beginning to think that I had worked enough for that day, I heard a ring at the bell. I opened the door to a total stranger. He asked me my name; I told him. He asked if he might come in.

“Certainly”.

I led him into my sitting-room and begged to sit down. He seemed a trifle embarrassed. I offered him a cigarette and he had some difficulty in lighting it.

“I hope you don't mind my coming to see you like this”, he said, “My name is Stephens and I am a doctor. You're in the medical, I believe?”

“Yes, but I don't practise”.

“No, I know. I've just read a book of yours about Spain and I wanted to ask you about it”.

“It's not a very good book, I'm afraid”.

“The fact remains that you know something about Spain and there's no one else I know who does. And I thought perhaps you wouldn't mind giving me some information”.

“I shall be very glad”.

He was silent for a moment. He reached out for his hat and holding it in one hand absent-mindedly stroked it with the other.

“I hope you won't think it very odd for a perfect stranger to talk to you like this”. He gave an apologetic laugh. “I'm not going to tell you the story of my life”.

When people say this to me I always know that it is precisely what they are going to do. I do not mind. In fact I rather like it.

“I was brought up by two old aunts. I've never been anywhere. I've never done anything. I've been married for six years. I have no children. I'm a medical officer at the Camberwell Infirmary. I can't bear it anymore”.

There was something very striking in the short, sharp sentences he used. I looked at him with curiosity. He was a little man, thickset and stout, of thirty perhaps, with a round red face from which shone small, dark and very bright eyes. His black hair was cropped close to a bullet-shaped head. He was dressed in a blue suit a good deal the worse for wear. It was baggy at the knees and the pockets bulged untidily.

“You know what the duties are of a medical officer in an infirmary. One day is pretty much like another. And that's all I've got to look forward to for the rest of my life. Do you think it's worth it?”

“It's a means of livelihood”, I answered.

“Yes, I know. The money's pretty good”.

“I don't exactly know why you've come to me”.

“Well, I wanted to know whether you thought there would be any chance for an English doctor in Spain?”

“Why Spain?”

“I don't know, I just have a fancy for it”.

“It's not like Carmen, you know”, I smiled.

“But there's sunshine there, and there's good wine, and there's colour, and there's air you can breathe. Let me say what I have to say straight out. I heard by accident that there was no English doctor in Seville. Do you think I could earn a living there? Is it madness to give up a good safe job for an uncertainty?”

“What does your wife think about it?”

“She's willing”.

“It's a great risk”.

“I know. But if you say take it, I will: if you say stay where you are, I'll stay”.

He was looking at me with those bright dark eyes of his and I knew that he meant what he said. I reflected for a moment.

“Your whole future is concerned: you must decide for yourself. But this I can tell you: if you don't want money but are content to earn just enough to keep body and soul together, then go. For you will lead a wonderful life”.

He left me, I thought about him for a day or two, and then forgot. The episode passed completely from my memory.

Many years later, fifteen at least, I happened to be in Seville and having some trifling indisposition asked the hotel porter whether there was an English doctor in the town. He said there was and gave me the address. I took a cab and as I drove up to the house a little fat man came out of it. He hesitated, when he caught sight of me.

“Have you come to see me?” he said. “I'm the English doctor”.

I explained my matter and he asked me to come in. He lived in an ordinary Spanish house, and his consulting room was littered with papers, books, medical appliances and lumber. We did our business and then I asked the doctor what his fee was. He shook his head and smiled.

“There's no fee”.

“Why on earth not?”

“Don't you remember me? Why, I'm here because of something you said to me. You changed my whole life for me. I'm Stephens”.

I had not the least notion what he was talking about. He reminded me of our interview, he repeated to me what we had said, and gradually, out of the night, a dim recollection of the incident came back to me.

“I was wondering if I'd ever see you again”, he said, “I was wondering if ever I'd have a chance of thanking you for all you've done for me”.

“It's been a success then?”

I looked at him. He was very fat now and bald, but his eyes twinkled gaily and his fleshy, red face bore an expression of perfect good humour. The clothes he wore, terribly shabby they were, had been made obviously by a Spanish tailor and his hat was the wide brimmed sombrero of the Spaniard. He looked to me as though he knew a good bottle of wine when he saw it. He had an entirely sympathetic appearance. “You might have hesitated to let him remove your appendix”, but you could not have imagined a more delightful creature to drink a glass of wine with.

“Surely you were married?” I said.

“Yes. My wife didn't like Spain, she went back to Camberwell, she was more at home there”.

“Oh, I'm sorry for that”.

His black eyes flashed a smile.

“Life is full of compensations”, he murmured.

The words were hardly out of his mouth when a Spanish woman, no longer in her first youth, but still beautiful, appeared at the door. She spoke to him in Spanish, and I could not fail to feel that she was the mistress of the house.

As he stood at the door to let me out he said to me:

“You told me when last I saw you that if I came here I should earn just enough money to keep body and soul together, but that I should lead a wonderful life. Well, I want to tell you that you were right. Poor I have been and poor I shall always be, but by heaven I've enjoyed myself. I wouldn't exchange the life I've had with that of any king in the world”.

Answer the questions

1 Who came to the narrator’s house one day?

2 Did they know each other?

3 What did the stranger want to talk about?

4 Did the stranger follow his advice?

5 Why did he decide to move to Spain?

6 How did he feel after spending years in Spain?

True or false

The narrator received an unexpected guest one day.

The author knew exactly why the stranger came to his house.

The stranger’s decision to move to Spain was totally based on the author’s advice.

It wasn’t a great risk to move to Spain.

His wife supported her husband’s idea of moving to Spain.

He earned a lot of money working as a doctor in Spain.

Give synonyms to the following words and word combinations

A modest apartment-

To be trifle embarrassed-

Absent-mindedly-

Precisely-

I can’t bear it-

Baggy clothes-

By accident-

To be content-

To keep body and soul together

Give Russian equivalents

Thickset and stout

The pockets bulged untidily

Infirmary

A trifling indisposition

To catch sight of

To be littered with

Medical appliances

To have the least notion

His eyes twinkled gaily

To flash a smile

Discuss the following:

What is the main idea of the story?

What is your attitude towards the main character of the story?

What are your emotions after reading the story? Did you like the plot?

Retell the text briefly. Give a character sketch of the main hero(es).

Find grammatical phenomena and structures which you have studied during the semester

Text 5

THE GREEN DOCTOR by O. Henry

Rudolf was always dreaming of adventures. Few were the evenings when he did not go to look for the unexpected. It seemed to him that the most interesting things in life might lie just around the corner.

Once when he was walking along the street his attention was attracted by a Negro handing out a dentist's cards. The Negro slipped a card into Rudolf's hand. He turned it over and looked at it. Nothing was written on one side of the card; on the other three words were written: "The Green Door". And then Rudolf saw, three steps in front of him, a man threw away the card the Negro had given him as he passed. Rudolf picked it up. The dentist's name and address were printed on it.

The adventurous piano salesman stopped at the corner and considered. Then he returned and joined the stream of people again. When he was passing the Negro the second time, he again got a card. Ten steps away he examined it. In the same handwriting that appeared on the first card "The Green door" was written upon it. Three or four cards were lying on the pavement. On all of them were the name and the address of the dentist. Whatever the written words on the cards might mean, the Negro had chose him twice from the crowd.

Standing aside from the crowd, the young man looked at the building in which he thought his adventure must lie. It was a five-storey building. On the first floor there was a store. The second up were apartments.

After finishing his inspection Rudolf walked rapidly up the stairs into the house. The hallway there was badly lighted. Rudolf looked toward the nearer door and saw that it was green. He hesitated for a moment, then he went straight to the green door and knocked on it. The door slowly opened. A girl not yet twenty stood there. She was very pale and as it seemed to Rudolf was about to faint. Rudolf caught her and laid her on a sofa. He closed the door and took a quick glance round the room. Neat, but great poverty was the story he read.

"Fainted, didn't I?" the girl asked weakly. "Well, no wonder. You try going without anything to eat for three days and see."

"Heavens!" cried Rudolf, jumping up. "Wait till I come back." He rushed out of the green door and in twenty minutes he was back with bread and butter, cold meat, cakes, pies, milk and hot tea.

"It is foolish to go without eating. You should not do it again," Rudolf said. "Supper is ready."

When the girl cheered up a little she told him her story. It was one of a thousand such as the city wears with indifference every day – a shop girl's story of low wages; of time lost through illness; and then of lost jobs, lost hope and unrealised dreams and – the knock of the young man upon the door.

Rudolf looked at the girl with sympathy.

"To think of you going through all that," he exclaimed. "And you have no relatives or friends in the city?"

"None whatever."

"As a matter of fact, I am all alone in the world too," said Rudolf after a pause.

"I am glad of that," said the girl, and somehow it pleased the young man to hear that she approved of his having no relatives.

Then the girl sighed deeply. "'I'm awfully sleepy," she said.

Rudolf rose and took his hat.

"How did it happen that you knocked at my door?" she asked.

"One of our piano tuners lives in this house. I knocked at your door by mistake."

There was no reason why the girl should not believe him.

In the hallway he looked around and discovered to his great surprise that all the doors were green.

In the street he met the same Negro.

Answer the questions

What kind of person was Rudolf?

What was his occupation?

What attracted attention of Rudolf in the street once?

What was written on the card which he had picked up?

Who did he see when he opened the green door?

Which way were the girl and Rudolf alike?

Did the girl believe that he had knocked at her door by mistake?

True or false

He lifted a postcard in the street and read it attentively.

It seemed to him that the most interesting things in life might lie in distant places.

Rudolf was always dreaming of a peaceful family life.

The dentist's name and address were printed on the card he had been given.

The adventurous piano salesman stopped at the corner and considered whether it was worth going there.

The door slowly opened and a girl not yet twenty stood in the room.

The girl fainted because of starvation.

Rudolf rushed to the nearest store to fetch some food for the girl.

Give Russian equivalents for the following words and expressions from the text and use them in the sentences of your own.

To be badly lighted.

took a quick glance

great poverty

unrealised dreams

low wages

As a matter of fact

To sigh deeply

The adventurous piano salesman

Discuss the following:

What’s the main idea of the story?

What is your attitude towards the main character of the story?

What are your emotions after reading the story? Did you like the plot?

Retell the text briefly. Give a character sketch of the main hero(es).

Find grammatical phenomena and structures which you have studied during the semester

TEXT 6

Hunting for a Job by S.S. McClure

I reached Boston late that night and got out at the South Station. I knew no one in Boston except Miss Bennet. She lived in Somerville, and I immediately started out for Somerville. Miss Bennet and her family did all they could to make me comfortable and help me to get myself established' in some way. I had only six dollars and their hospitality was of utmost importance to me.

My first application for a job in Boston was made in accordance with an idea of my own. Every boy in the Western states knew the Pope Manufacturing Company, which produced bicycles. When I published my first work "History of Western College Journalism" the Pope Company had given me an advertisement, and that seemed to be a "connection" of some kind. So I decided to go to the offices of the Pope Manufacturing Company to ask for a job. I walked into the general office and said that I wanted the president of the company.

"Colonel Pope?" asked the clerk.

I answered, "Yes, Colonel Pope."

I was taken to Colonel Pope, who was then an alert energetic man of thirty-nine. I told Colonel Pope, by way of introduction, that he had once given me an advertisement for a little book I had published, that I had been a College editor and out of a job. What I wanted was work and I wanted it badly.

He said he was sorry, but they were laying of hands. I still hung on. It seemed to me that everything would be all up with me', if I had to go out of that room without a job. I asked him if there wasn't anything at all that I could do. My earnestness made him look at me sharply.

"Willing to wash windows and scrub floors?" he asked.

I told him that I was, and he turned to one of his clerks.

"Has Wilmot got anybody yet to help him in the downtown' rink?" he asked.

The clerk said he thought not.

"Very well", said Colonel Pope. "You can go to the rink and help Wilmot out for tomorrow."

The next day I went to the bicycle rink and found that what Wilmot wanted was a man to teach beginners to ride. I had never been on a bicycle in my life nor even very close to one, but in a couple of hours I had learnt to ride a bicycle myself and was teaching other people.

Next day Mr. Wilmot paid me a dollar. He didn't say anything about my coming back the next morning, but I came and went to work, very much afraid that I would be told I wasn't needed. After that Mr. Wilmot did not exactly engage me, but he forgot to discharge me, and I came back every day and went to work. At the end of the week Colonel Pope sent for me and placed me in charge of the uptown' rink.

Colonel Pope was a man who watched his workmen. I hadn't been mistaken when I felt that a young man would have a chance with him. He often used to say that "water would find its level", and he kept an eye on us. One day he called me into his office and asked me if I could edit a magazine.

"Yes, sir," I replied quickly. I remember it flashed through my mind that I could do anything I was put at '96 that if I were required to run an ocean steamer I could somehow manage to do it. I could learn to do it as I went along'. I answered as quickly as I could get the words out of my mouth, afraid that Colonel Pope would change his mind before I could get them out.

This is how I got my first job. And I have never doubted ever since that one of the reasons why I got it was that I had been "willing to wash windows and scrub floors". I had been ready for anything.

Paraphrase the sentences using phrases from the text:

1) Miss Bennet and her family received him very warmly.

2) Everybody tried to help him to find some kind of job.

3) Their concern and hospitality were very important to him.

4) He told Colonel Pope that he was unemployed and needed any job very much.

5) The man thought that everything would be lost for him if he didn't find a job.

6) He has never ridden a bicycle in his life.

7) Mr. Wilmot neither employed the journalist nor dismissed him.

8) The boss made him responsible for the uptown rink.

9) It suddenly occurred to him that his willingness to do any job had helped him to get his first job.

Give Russian equivalents for the following words and expressions from the text and use them in the sentences of your own.

to get myself established' in some way

of utmost importance

hospitality

application for a job

earnestness

look at me sharply

to teach beginners

he did not exactly engage me

in a couple of hours

to change his mind

Answer the questions to the text:

1) Who was the only person the author knew in Boston?

2) In what way was he received? Why was it of great importance to him?

3) What made the young man apply for a job to the Pope Company?

4) Describe Colonel Pope. What was his answer to the young man's story?

5) Why did the man still hang on though he found out that the company was laying off hands?

6) What question did the Colonel ask him?

7) Describe the young man's job and say whether he coped with it.

8) Why did the man continue to work for Mr. Wilmot though he hadn't engaged him?

9) What happened at the end of the week?

10) What job was the young man offered in the long run?

11) What idea flashed through his mind?

12) What helped the man to get his first job?

Discuss the following:

1) Say if you agree or disagree with the statement "water would find its level". How do you understand it? Give examples in support of your opinion.

2) Give a character sketch of the main hero. Compare him with the heroes of the story "Success Story."

3) Is the problem of unemployment acute nowadays? Why? Is this problem interconnected with the problem of wasted lives? Give your grounds.

What is your attitude towards the main character of the story?

Text 7

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